NYC Tragedy Inspires Innovation

On a slushy East Village street in New York City one January morning in 2004, 31 year-old Jodie Lane was walking her two dogs. Suddenly and without warning, Jodie and her dogs were hit by 57 volts of electricity. A metal sidewalk plate had become energized by a weathered and poorly maintained wiring system beneath the street. The shock knocked Jodie to the pavement and sent her dogs into a frenzy. Pedestrians and police officers attempting to assist Jodie were turned away, when they also were shocked. By the time properly equipped emergency and utility teams arrived, Jodie was dead. Read More about Osmose’s Power Survey Hunts Contact Voltage »

Recently, a utility contracted Osmose to deploy their Power Survey™ solution to perform a comprehensive mobile contact voltage survey of their underground distribution areas. The client sought a new solution for an old labor-intensive process of identifying faults. They were unaware of any ongoing faults in their underground distribution system and had no record of electric shock reports from the public over the past decade. Read More about Osmose Solution Quickly Identifies Hazardous Condition in Schoolyard »

In 2018, the city of Palmdale, California, purchased thousands of streetlights from Southern California Edison so the city could convert its system to long-lasting, energy efficient LED lighting. But just a year later, a resident reported a streetlight outage. When city crews responded they discovered a more dangerous situation than expected. Whatever caused the burnout also energized the streetlight, which could severely shock people and pets upon touch. Where else might this hidden hazard exist? The city now had a larger problem: how to expedite the inspection of 18,000 streetlights to protect its residents from possible harm. Read More about Power Survey in Palmdale, California »